Jesus is Coming

James 5:7-12

Ring in the Pocket

Once upon a time, I was a young stud in pursuit of a beautiful woman. Anna and I had been dating a year and she flat out asked me one day when we were going to get engaged.

"Well, I can't afford a ring." I said. What I didn't tell her was that I couldn't afford a ring because I had already bought the ring. I was coming out for Christmas and her whole family knew that I was coming out to propose.

I was out for a week or so before the big night (Christmas Eve Eve), and over and over again Anna's impatience came out.

And the ring was there, burning a hole in my pocket. She was struggling with impatience in the brutal trial of not being married to me yet. Fulfillment was just a moment away.

She didn't know about the brutal trial of being married to me yet.

Hungry for Justice

We have all been given a promise. Jesus is going to return and everything is going to be better. Our trials will be over. There will be justice and righteousness, new heaven and new earth.

James' audience was impatient for this fulfillment as they endured their persecutions, largely at the hands of exploitative wealthy persons.

Text – James 5:7-12

7 – Therefore be patient…

7 Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.

Be patient, then... or "Therefore, be patient." Recall that the previous passage, which Pastor Rod preached on two weeks ago, James denounces the rich, corrupted by their wealth, exploiting poor workers. Judgment is going to come and it's not going to be pretty "eat your flesh like fire" kind of not pretty.

So, in light of that, to those suffering at the hands of those exploitive people, "be patient until the Lord's coming."

Then I don't need any illustrations this sermon because James has packed these verses with fantastic ones. "Consider the farmer..."

Like the farmer…

How is the farmer like someone going through trials or suffering? This is subsistence farming. His whole life, his family's life, depends on the next harvest. This is like living paycheck to paycheck… but where you only get paid twice a year. Skipping a paycheck is a total disaster, possibly meaning the loss of your land and freedom.

Yet they must wait for the rain.

This is also an odd illustration for patience. I think of someone being patient just kind of sitting there. I don't put farmers in that category. They are up before sunrise, weeding, fertilizing, doing farmerish things...

This is an Active patience, do everything possible to prepare, but knowing they are powerless to bring the necessary growth, life and fruit. Waiting for rain.

What is the rain? The coming of the Lord.

8 - The coming of the Lord is near…

8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.

Now the Coming of the Lord has quickly become a catch phrase in the early church to refer to the ultimate return of Jesus Christ to the earth. We saw him go up... we are expecting him to return in glory. It fits in with his theme of judgment in the previous passage and where he is going in the next verse "The Judge is standing at the door."

They are to be patient and endure or stand firm, even in trial and suffering, knowing that all will be put right soon.

Be patient, Jesus is coming.

9 – Grumbling – turning on each other

9 Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

Don't grumble against one another. Grumble or a "sigh". This is the subtle version of the slander or "speaking against" one another we saw in 4:11-12. <sigh>, can express all the frustration and/or passive aggressive criticism you want.

One temptation in powerless suffering is to turn on that which you can control. Turn on your family, your friends, your church. It is a temptation, but it's not good. Indeed it isolates you from the people who should be your support in trial and... you will be judged.

The Judge is at the door.

Be patient, Jesus is coming.

10 – example of the prophets

10 Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

The prophets. What an example. These were certainly people who suffered. Sometimes they suffered at the hands of outside persecutors, often they were suffering out as a witness or message to God. God had not only words to say, sometimes he wanted people to see his sufferings made flesh in a life before them.

Ezekiel doing bizarre things. Lying on his side for 390 days, cooking his food on a fire with human excrement for fuel. (read your Bible, man, this stuff is great).

Hosea living out Israel’s adultery. Having to name his kids things like "I will punish" or "not-loved".

But they did not suffer silently. Anything but. Just like the farmer’s patience is not one of passivity, the prophets spoke and shouted and proclaimed! They cried out against injustice. They warned the people of judgment and danger. They even cried out to God with complaints and what sounds like impatience…

But they endured. They obeyed. They walked the road God called them too. They did not take matters into their own hands with violence or rebellion. They did not take justice into their own hands, waiting on the true Judge.

11 – example of Job

One of the prophets, in particular, is set as an example in verse 11.

11 As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

Job is the epitome of perseverance in suffering. And he is considered one of the prophets and the epitome of patient suffering. Man, did that guy suffer.

Here is the funny thing: he could certainly complain. He called injustice by its name when he saw it. Whole chapters in Job are just him crying out to God. WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME? THIS IS AWFUL! I am poor now, great! My kids all died (I couldn't even watch that movie), and I am now scraping sores off my body with pottery shards.

But he did not curse God and die. He did not reject God. He cried out to God over and over again because even in his worst suffering, he knew where His salvation would come from. He wasn’t happy about waiting for it. He wasn’t happy about needing it. But he knew justice and salvation were from God. He said, Job said,

Job 19:25-26

25 I know that my redeemer lives,

and that in the end he will stand on the earth.

26 And after my skin has been destroyed,

yet in my flesh I will see God;

Job was patient. it was a funny, loud kind of patient. It was perseverance... It was patient with a firm expectation that all was not yet written. There was justice yet to come. That God was coming, that the Redeemer was coming.

God shows up and says some things to Job, but ultimately, Job's Redeemer is Jesus Christ. Job's hope is Jesus Christ. Really, Job was patient and persevered with the hope, not that he would be restored to wealth, which he was, but that Jesus was coming. More about that in a minute.

12 – Hijacking heavenly power

Final verse is a bit of an odd inclusion, but I think it sums up the section.

12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.

This is a pretty clear quote of Jesus' sermon on the mount, but the first few words here make it sound like the critical conclusion of this passage. "Above all..." In the course of patience and perseverance under trials, even more important than not turning on each other as you wait is this... "do not swear."

Now I understand the temptation to curse when suffering. "Son of a biscuit!" is not what he's talking about.

There are two likely options. One is that they are seeking to trade on the name of God in order to escape their suffering. Most likely, in this scenario, they could seek to obtain a loan by swearing an oath on God, like on the assumption that He would hold them accountable to breaking the oath.

The other option, and I like this, in the context of Job, perhaps this refers to giving in to the temptation of Job, cursing against God. Swearing an oath against God. This is what Job's wife tempted him to do, and Job is held up as having persevered because he did not give in to this temptation. He complained, yes, but He did not curse and reject God.

Either way: We can neither try to hijack God's power, nor lash out against God in our desire for justice in response to our suffering.

Instead, in the midst of suffering, we are to be persons of absolute integrity. Our yes be yes, our no be no.

Be people of integrity. Be patient, Jesus is coming.

Patient suffering prophets

Are you a patient sufferer?

We don’t tend to have a theology of suffering. Suffering must be fixed immediately or something is wrong! That isn’t a new idea, by the way, it is exactly what Job’s friends thought. Life is supposed to be easy, if it's not, get right with God.

But Jesus said, "in this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world."

There are blessings that only come on the road of suffering. Way back in James 1:2-4

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

This is the way God operates, and we often don't like his style and we don't like His timing, here. But we follow and we trust that He is (verse 11) compassionate and merciful, even when that seems impossible in our trial.

I expect, in one way or another, some of you are facing a trial, or even trials of many kinds at once. You are walking the road of a prophet, seeing injustice, calling it what it is, crying out to God, and desperately wanting justice. Victory. An end to the suffering.

Hold on. Persevere. Be patient. Wait for rain, like the farmer. Wait for the coming of the Lord, both in this life and in His ultimate return.

Be patient, Jesus is coming. Justice is coming, hope is victorious, he has overcome the world and he has overcome your trial. Hold on. Be patient.

Be patient, Jesus is coming. Not a twiddle-your-thumbs patience, but the patience of the farmer, the patience of the prophets. A patience that is free to cry out to God, to denounce injustice, yet that waits upon the Lord for His moment and His movement.

Be patient, Jesus is coming. Do not give in to the temptation to turn on one another. If you are fed up with your trial, don't take it out on me, or your spouse, or anyone. Instead, we are to be a support to one another, farmers laboring together, prophets persevering together. We are the body of Christ waiting for the full return of Christ.

Be patient, Jesus is coming.

And, though it be tempting, don't turn on the one who can save us. Cry out like Job, express your frustration with His timing and mystery... but don't turn your back on the One who can save us. The One who has saved us and will right every wrong, bring justice and righteousness with all wisdom, love and mercy.

Jesus is coming

A Family of Enduring Prophets

Let's hold on together. Let's endure together.

Let us call out to one another in our need, in our impatience, in our prophetic struggle. Ask your brother or sister for prayer, for strength, and for support.

Jesus is coming, let's be patient together.

Our final engagement, our eternal wedding, is just around the corner. The ring is in Jesus' pocket. He is at the door, the Judge who brings Justice is at the door.